


Somebody I used to know

by Wacko_Azimuth



Category: ENHYPEN (Band), I-LAND (Korea TV)
Genre: #Write inane ficlets in a night challenge, Accidents, Aged-Up Character(s), Ambiguous/Open Ending, Does it count like that?, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Mentioned Other Members of OT23, Morally Ambiguous Character, Non-Linear Narrative, Partying, References to Drugs, Slice of Life, Unrequited Crush, friends to strangers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27415087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wacko_Azimuth/pseuds/Wacko_Azimuth
Summary: Jaeyoon and Sunghoon find each other again, years after a night to remember.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 10





	Somebody I used to know

"Sorry I'm late." 

The man stood alone under the tree, scrutinizing him sideways from under his thick eyebrows. 

Jaeyoon deposited the bouquet near the plaque. 

It must have been a choice spot; under the olive tree, enduring if ever there was one. The irony wasn't lost on Jaeyoon.

"I'm sorry for y..." 

He dismissed him a with a wave of the hand. 

"How'd _you_ know?" he finally spoke. 

"Your sister called." 

The man snorted a laugh. "Just like her." 

\--------------------

The man took a cigarette case from the inside of his coat and tapped it a few times on the palm of his left hand. He took one out and offered the little box to Jaeyoon, who refused, shaking his head. 

The man was good-looking; tall-ish, elegant in his black three-piece suit. 

_His shoulders seem to have gotten wider over the years._

"Since when do you... is it from...?" 

"This?" the other said as he lighted one. "Since that time, yeah." He smiled. 

Jaeyoon feigned a smile too. Both of them knew what the other was talking about. 

The night. 

_Fuck it's been a long time._

\--------------------- 

It was supposed to be a night of celebration. A farewell to something and a welcome to something else. 

High school had ended. 

They were the kids of the high-flying set; they expected big things from life, and big things were expected of them. 

No, not kids.

They were men now. _Grown men_ , ready to take on the world head-on and make their mark. 

But first they had to celebrate, and give this phase a fitting farewell.

A country house in the summer town just inaugurating the peak season; the peak celebration inaugurating the summer of their lives. 

Fitting. 

\---------------------

That was the plan at least, Jaeyoon remembered; one of the few things he remembered about that night. 

Another was the exact moment a somewhat-more-than-tipsy Sunghoon stopped coughing his lungs out on Seon’s cigarettes to show off with something he could really do. Was used to doing. 

First a smoke, the cough, and then something harder, better, more fun.

\-------------------- 

Jaeyoon had been by his side all the time, ever since they first met each other. 

By his side when Jongseong spread the white powder on the kitchen table and handed both Sunghoon and Youngbin the 10,000 won bills. 

Youngbin hesitated, but finally yielded, egged on by Jimin and Sungcheol. 

Jaeyoon noticed neither one of them tried some for themselves. 

He put his hand on the other's shoulder, pat pat to call his attention, and shook his head no, a last appeal to a smirking Sunghoon. 

A feeble attempt, honestly. But then by that time he was late already. Months _(or maybe years, who knew anymore)_ too late _._

Sunghoon just turned away with the rolled bill and bent forward. 

Jaeyoon’s head was throbbing. He wasn’t used to that amount of booze. 

He wasn’t used to that amount of tension, either. Everything felt high-stakes that night. That was the thrill. 

This wasn’t any fun anymore. 

With questioning eyes, Jongseong indicated the thing in the table to Jaeyoon, who refused with a shake of his head. Jongseong just clicked his tongue disdainfully and looked away; took it himself. 

_Jaeyoon_ wasn’t any fun at all. 

Everyone else seemed to be having the time of their lives in…

 _...whose house was it anyway?_

But then, Jaeyoon had always been the scaredy-cat, after all. 

Euiju was the pure boy. Geonu was known to be a cautious, no-nonsense kind of guy. Jaeyoon was just chicken. 

They were grown-up men now. This was supposed to be a privilege, part and parcel of their adulthood. Jaeyoon should learn to take part and enjoy it. 

\-------------------- 

He didn’t remember the moment when finally, for the first time since they had met, he gave up on trying to be Park Sunghoon’s external conscience and just went along with him for once. 

Sunghoon had always been a lucky bastard. Seemingly invincible.

Jaeyoon had always been by his side. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

\---------------------

He was besides him too, when… whatever… happened. The memory was fuzzy.

\--------------------- 

Wait, no. 

Jaeyoon had been behind him. 

Behind him the whole time.

\----------------------- 

The large, dark crowd of mourners drew away in the distance, back to the lines of parked cars. 

Jaeyoon recognized Yoonwon's figure among the crowd, a barely noticeable limp in his step. 

He turned back to look at Sunghoon. "He doesn't blame you?" 

Sunghoon looked up at him, slightly surprised. “Hm?” 

“Yoonwon, I mean,” Jaeyoon pointed with his chin in the direction of the crowd. 

"No. None of us, really. He just laughs it off every time."

\---------------------- 

An SUV loaded with boys on a quest for high-speed thrills to crown the night (found decorating the front wall of a peasant house by the interstate) wasn't the end of it. More than one mess was caused by that night's partygoers, it seemed. 

The cops interrogated everyone they could get their hands on; all of their parents had had to pull some strings to avoid worse. 

Euiju had told everything about everyone in the morning. Not that any of it could have been hidden very well anyways.

\--------------------- 

None of them attended Jongseong’s burial a few days later. 

Sunghoon was stitched up and in drug rehab by then.

Jimin and Sungcheol had decided to enlist already; kill two birds with one stone.

Heeseung was about to be sent to some Catholic university in Spain or Belgium or thereabouts (the house was his, or rather his parents', Jaeyoon remembered now.)

Seon and Yoonwon had had it worst of all. Hospitalized, the latter’s dancing career finished for good, perhaps to his father's grudging satisfaction.

Jaeyoon, arm in a sling, was boarding the plane that was to take him to Australia, away from it, from them, all; to become "Jake" Shim for a few years. Graduate; make a life for himself. Forget. 

Nobody ever heard about Youngbin anymore.

\-------------------- 

_"Jaeyoon? Oh, hi. This is Eunji. It's been so long. I knew you were back in..."_

_"... It's about... "_

Jaeyoon stared blankly at the wall of his small living room for a long while after she had hung. 

He sighed. 

_Somehow..._

Perhaps they've reached that age at which they mostly just meet at weddings and funerals.


End file.
